the utah
Monday, September 21, 2015 • www.usustatesman.com • (435) 797-1742 • Free single copy
PHOTO | MCT Campus
USU students put stock in more than education By Katherine Lambert STUDENT LIFE EDITOR
Some USU students are investing in the stock market while investing in their education. The only sound louder than the hum of computers in BUS 115 were the students whispering in the back. “I’m very undecided.” “Our markets are already messed up.” “We should wait.” It was Sept. 16, just one day before the Federal Reserve made their decision to not raise interest rates. But the students in the back of BUS 115 didn’t know that yet. Their grades and $50,000 from D.A. Davidson were on the line. Yet this was an investing practicum, practice for the real-world of investing that some students at Utah State University are already familiar with. Economics and Financial department senior lecturer Paul Fjeldsted said in his investing practicum class, students practice presenting ideas, making decisions and living with those decisions through investing.
“We’re actually dealing with actual money and so you make decisions differently rather than if we were just doing a simulated test” said Austin Smoot, a junior in finance and economics. “It works with your instincts on the decisions you make really count for something, that goes really well with experience that looks really good on a resume when you want to go into finance.” Finance senior Parker Harris said that though it is nice to practice investing with someone else’s money, he hopes to learn finance tricks from this class that will help him make his own future investments. “I haven’t been super active in my own personal investing,” Harris said. “As I pull from a whole class of people that know more than I do or have different experiences I’ll start playing around with more money in the stock market.” This sentiment is shared by finance senior Nick Fetty. “I’ve got a 401K,” Fetty said, “but like Parker said, I really don’t feel comfortable investing my own money and choosing my own stocks right now. So right now it’s just a managed account but this class should hopefully give me some
expertise in what to look for in investments.” There are many reasons why students don’t invest, Fjeldsted said, student loans, credit card debt, limited income are just a few. “I suspect that one of the big hurdles is just knowing what to do,” Fjeldsted said. “You wouldn’t expect people to know this naturally just by watching the news.” Knowing where to find widely-accepted information is also a challenge, and the only way Fjeldsted said to get around it is by talking with others knowledgeable about investing and researching online. That’s why finance senior Gregory Dudley turned to Fjeldsted and an app called Robinhood for the investments he made on his own. Dudley said he’s a “horrible spender.” But once Fjeldsted took him under his wing, Dudley said he began to look into investing. That’s when he found Robinhood, an app that helps users invest without a brokerage fee. see STOCK page 2
USUSA officers share results of summer collaboration By Brenna Kelly COPY EDITOR
Utah State University Student Association officers are ready to share the product of four months of collaboration after a controversial election held in April. The last-minute special election — which garnered the participation of just 236 students — added the position of Student Alumni Association president to the USUSA Executive Council. Despite a petition from students for a re-vote, USUSA President Trevor Sean Olsen has moved forward with the merger, meeting “a few times” with SAA President Oakman Kennedy over the summer to discuss logistics. “The bulk of the meetings up to this point were to see who’s advising them, where the budget’s going to be and how to work with the two traditions directors,” he said. “It’s mostly just planning meetings.” Kennedy said the culture of SAA and USUSA
are different, in that SAA directors are not elected and are united by common interests. Some directors in particular were concerned about getting along with programming officers in USUSA, as they both deal with traditions. “There were fears, but at the end of the day, it’s the right move to make,” Kennedy said. “I don’t think either group is losing.” The funding for the SAA President’s scholarship will continue to come from University Advancement, and beginning next year, the SAA President will receive equal compensation to other USUSA officers. Additionally, the Division of Student Services recently hired development officer Mike Bowen, who — under the direction of student services director James Morales — will be advising Kennedy. Funds for the position will be housed with Bowen. “There’s definitely growing pains,” Kennedy said. “Especially with getting charters established for the new position.” Olsen agreed that while there are still kinks to
Student Life | RELIGION
work out, they have an advantage after having the summer to collaborate. “I think during school, when you’ve got classes to worry about and work, we couldn’t have done what we were able to do, really,” Kennedy added. In addition to the some of the officers meeting over the summer, their advisers – with their new responsibilities – were able to meet and coordinate. In previous interviews, Olsen and Kennedy emphasized that it was important the change happen when it did, despite the low voter turnout. Some students were concerned about the special election being held during finals week, which likely contributed to the low voter turnout. Just 1.5 percent of the student body voted in the election — nowhere near the 23 percent that voted during the last student election cycle. 63 percent voted in favor of the change, with 37 percent against. “I feel confident that it was the right decision, and I think if the numbers were larger, the per-
Student Life | RUSH WEEK
centages would still be the same,” Olsen said. “If there are students who don’t feel they got to voice their opinion on the matter, I’m more than happy to talk with them and see what steps we can take to help them feel comfortable about the decision.” Seth Merrill, a senior at the time of the election, started the petition to revote on the amendment to add the SAA president to the USUSA Executive Council. Merrill said that he wasn’t impressed in the way the election was carried out, specifically that all the amendments were voted on as one.
“I felt like USUSA was constantly saying throughout the elections that they valued students voices and wanted everyone to be heard, but when people were bring this to their attention, they weren’t actually listening,” he said. —brennakelly818@gmail.com @bckelly8
Sports | FOOTBALL
An inside look at sorrority rush week from a writer who just went through it. see CHURCH page 6
see RUSH page 6
see SECONDARY page 9